It is well known that with color photographic light-sensitive materials where color-forming couplers are incorporated into a photographic silver halide light-sensitive emulsion, and development is performed using color developers, such as para-phenylenediamine, or where the diffusion characteristics of the dye which has been previously formed are changed by a redox reaction which is induced through the development of silver halide to form image patterns (The system in which diffusible dye-releasing redox compounds, dye developers, or compounds, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,139,379, 4,199,354 and 3,980,479 are used) an undersirable phenomenon called "color fog" may occur. One of the causes of this phenomenon is that developer oxidation products, which are formed by the development of adjacent layers which are sensitive to light having different wavelengths, and which diffuse from the adjacent layers, or developer oxidation products which are formed by the action of oxidizing substances, such as air, react with redox compounds controlling the diffusion characteristics of the color-forming couplers or dyes at those areas of the photographic material where silver image patterns are not formed. Thus, this color fog cannot be sufficiently prevented by those techniques which have heretofore been known for the prevention of silver fog.
Various methods have been developed for the prevention of color fog, including those methods utilizing hydroquinone derivatives described in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,960,570, 3,700,453, 2,728,659, and Japanese Patent Application (OPI) No. 156438/75, (the term "OPI" as used herein means a (published unexamined Japnese Patent Application), sulfinic acid derivatives described in British Pat. No. 1,203,832 and German Pat. (OLS) No. 1,772,131, aminocatechol derivatives described in British Pat. No. 2,003,618A, or 3-aminoindole derivatives described in Research Disclosure, 19226 (No. 192).
These conventional methods, however, suffer from certain disadvantages. Many compounds used in the methods have a poor developer oxidation product-capturing ability per molecule (two electron oxidation). Thus, it is necessary for them to be added in large amounts in order to satisfactorily obtain the color fog-prevention effect. Some compounds have a low oxidation potential, and therefore, are subject to air oxidation during the production of light-sensitive materials, for example, at the steps of emulsifying, coating, or drying, or during the storage thereof, and thus exhibit deterioration of the color fog-preventing effect and cause coloration. Some compounds accelerate the discoloration of color image patterns formed by heat or light. Some compounds reduce diffusing dyes or diffusing dye precursors, causing changes in color, when used in a color diffusion transfer process wherein the pH is relatively high during the development processing.